-Wash lentils and boil them in 2 cups of water until the water is almost gone.
-Once you turn it off, add bulgur and salt. Mix once and cover to let the bulgur expand. Let it cool off.
-Heat oil in a pan and add the onion (not the green one!) and cook until soft.
-Add tomato paste and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
-Add cumin and stir once you turn it off.
-Add this to the lentils which should be cool by now.
-Add lemon juice and half of finely chopped parsley and green onion (we're saving the rest of parsley and green onions to garnish) to the lentils. Mix all well.
-Take walnut size pieces and give them kofte shape in your hands. Keep a little bowl of water close by to wet your hand frequently during this process since the kofte mixture will get stuck on your hands.
-You can either place lettuce leaves on a serving plate and put koftes on top as in the picture, or serve koftes and lettuce leaves separately, or skip lettuce leaves completely; however, they reallly go well together.

You make a good point because I am vegan and Mediterranean cuisine is wonderful. In some respects it is surprising that there are so many Turkish dishes I can eat. This recipe is great I have just made it and as you put it I didn't have to resort to tofu or fake meat. This recipe is very easy to follow too.

I made this recipe yesterday for dinner..oh it was so satisfying..a cross between lentil soup, moujadara (a lebanese/syrian lentils dish) and frakeh, a southern lebanon typical meat dish. thank you so much for this recipe.

Thanks for sharing the recipe. While making it I had to use my own judgement because you do not mention when to add the cumin and lemon. I only used half a lemon and it was plenty otherwise the taste is good Let's see what my guests think when they taste it.

The Red Lentil Kofte look really delicious. I love Turkish cuisine, because it's so easy to find non-meat dishes. I'm quite happy with a dinner consisting of various meze. I'm going to have to try this Kofte out.

Awesome... I just made these and they were amazing! I added some minced red bell pepper and a clove of garlic with the onions as well as a small dash of cayenne with the spices. The taste of each flavor was distinct and yet blended in a really great way. It called for way too much oil so I only used a tablespoon or two, just enough to cook the onion mixture. I will definitely recommend it to others! This is now my new favorite lentil recipe.

Love love love... just got back from the store ready to start making these. My stepdad is turkish and when i was in turkey my aunt made these and they were amazing. ive looked everywhere for how to make them and freakin finally!!!! as soon as i saw the pic i was like OMG THATS IT!!!! love it thanx sooo much! Will b passing along to one of my vegan friends as well!!!

Thanks for the wonderful recipe and easy to follow step-by-step instructions!These mercimek kofte are outstanding. I loved them, and so did my children, who eagerly wrapped them in lettuce, but then decided to smash them on bread and make them into little sandwiches. Why not? Almost Turkish! Or Turkish-American synthesis. They taste exactly like the version I ate in Turkey and have eaten at Turkish friends' homes here in the US. . .now I know their secret!Hint: for children, omit the green onions!

I soaked big green lentils overnight. I wanted to make a salad with them but I remember this recipe. Do you think I can use the soaked lentils for this recipe? In Mexico is difficult to get the red lentils...

Well, it depends on how you serve them. These are never served as main course dish in Turkey, but rather as part of a tea party, etc., so this recipe would serve 8-10 people 3-4 koftes per person. But, if you serve this to fill people, as a main course dish, then I think it'd be 4-6.

Just made these and they were delicious. Thank you for the recipe! If I may add one suggestion: to make the recipe clearer, maybe you should change the part about adding the parsley, lemon etc to: "Add the green onion, lemon juice and half of finely chopped parsley to the lentils." As it is now, one might read it as having to add only half the onions and half of the juice.

Hello - I'm saving this recipe .. it looks delicious. I was wondering if you'd allow me to republish this on my blog and in a travel guide I'm writing about Gumusluk in Bodrum Turkey. My guide is aimed at self catering visitors, and I'd like to add easy Turkish recipes into the guide. I'd credit you as the source, and include a short bio and web link back to your side.... please let me know if you are ok with this. thanks, Jay www.bodrumpeninsulatravelguide.co.uk

Another Turk in the US here. Mine come out pretty runny/soft that I could not shape them. So I heated the whole mix in a non-stick pan to dry out the water. Now it is cooling and I think it'll be fine. I am wondering what I did wrong because nobody else seems to have a problem with the consistency. It tastes perfect though, just the consistency was not as I wanted. Thanks for the wonderful recipe.

Yes, cook the lentils until the water is almost gone. It is 1tbsp tomato paste and 1 tbsp pepper paste, but if you cannot find pepper paste then use 2 tbsp tomato paste. Tomato paste. I will correct these in the text as well. Thank you!